At first hearing word of a Culture Club boxset I was immediately intrigued by hearing all the unreleased material that's been locked away in some record label's vault--not to mention the prospect of finally having all the 12" mixes that have yet to appear on compact disc (the complete "Gusto Blusto", "White Boy", "Don't Go Down That Street", "Heaven's Children"...) finally preserved on CD. Well, I was half correct in my assumptions: There is a sampling of demos (both earlier and later, and songs that have been unheard until now) but no 12" versions of those hayday Culture Club tracks. The demos are of particular interest, and are this collections most valuable inclusions, simply because they sound so solid. Familiar tracks like "I'm Afraid Of Me" and "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me" sound like finished product in their less complex pre-studio steriod states. Ardent Club fans (myself included), however, may be a bit disappointed with the presence of so much Boy George solo material. Before the middle of Disc 2 George's solo material begins (not even beginning with Sold material, but with The Martyr Mantras material), seemingly having gotten the Culture Club requisites out of the way too soon. Sold is merely represented with a new mix of "Everything I Own", while the inferior High Hat--but still neglected--is given minor notice here with a new mix of "Kipsy". If such a sampling of George's solo recording was going to be on this compilation at all there could have been better and more obscure material chosen (his b-sides "I Pray" and "Use Me" come to mind). George has cleaned his solo vault twice in the past few years (The Unrecoupable... & U Can Never...), so almost half of this collection devoted to his material was simply unnecessary. I would have slapped down the price of another four disc collection if he were to release one of his own, rather than compromise this one. Besides, the inclusion of solo careers is a lopsided affair here, since Mikey Craig and Jon Moss (Heartbeat UK) both released records after Culture Club, as well. Where are those curiousities? Overlooked, also, is the often--and criminally--underrated From Luxury To Heartache album. No alternative versions, no demos, nor unrealeased tracks from those sessions? I also would have like to have heard the Peter Asher demos that are mentioned in George's autobio...but they're not included. In place of any of that we get yet another remix of "Love Hurts" and four versions of "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me". Lacking also are this collection's liner notes. Other than producer credits there is no track annotation--and frustratingly so! Shots of Roy Hay, Mikey Craig, and Jon Moss make up less than half of the photos included (guess who makes up the rest?), and you'd be challenged to find the names of these bandmates listed in these resplendently photo-filled pages. Although, the singer's is listed under his innumerable quotes that are peppered throughout. After listening to the music, seeing all the photos, and reading all of the words, it's clear that this was an unbalanced event. While I've an ardent fan of the band's and of George's on his own, there were three guys who played behind him. I would have enjoyed this set much more had every track included been a Culture Club track. If you've been left wondering why these four guys had such a difficult time getting along, this mistakenly truncated Culture Club Boxset (for the sake of Boy George's solo career) and Disc 1 Track 19 are answer enough. As a collection, this is limited and disappointing.

Disc one : The demos range from sometimes confident and promising to mostly awkward and amatuerish. Let's face it, that's why they are demos. They weed out the bad songs. And early Culture Club demos are a decidedly mixed bag. The early hits are then well represented, with some b-sides and choice album cuts thrown in. The song Victims is heard first in a recorded rehearsal that begins shakey and ends in a ridiculously campy argument between the band members, with the actual song - still a gorgeous, tender ballad - ending the disc.
Disc two : Starts promising, includes the song "Colour By Numbers", so good it should have been an A-side, not a B-side, or at very least the title track to their incredibly sucessful second album. The third Culture Club album is represented by one song ( another great ballad, Mistake Number 3) and the fourth is ignored altogether.And then all of a sudden we find ourselves inexplicably in the middle of Boy George's solo career, with a few new remixes and some previously unreleased material, rounded out with the more accesible tracks from his under-rated and misunderstood solo album Cheapness and Beauty.
Disc three: We begin where we last left the still solo George, with a campy, hard rock cover of these Boots Were Made For Walking. If nothing else I can assure you it sounds better than KMFDM's recent ham-fisted version of that same song. A few new Culture Club songs follow, some good, some just OK, then a few more demos ( again, some really good , especially the ballad Grand Scheme of Things , and some are OK - experimental or just half baked ). The remixes are what makes this disc really good. Strange Voodoo , If I Were U , and an updated, electro/techno Church of the Poison Mind are the highlights.
CD four: My favourite disc , it was remixed by Richie Stevens ( who also had a hand in the Gorillaz vs Spacemonkeys "Laika Come Home", a brilliant dub reggae / chill out / groove remix cd - he was one of the "Spacemonkeys" ). Dub reggae and electronic sounds are crafted expertly onto Culture Club and Boy George songs old and new ( in fact I think the "Scary Newman" remix of Cold Shoulder, on the 2000 Culture Club album Don't Mind If I Do far surpasses the original , and should have been a single.) There are again a few demos that close out the disc, the best being a song called Armageddon, which happens to be my favourite song in the entire box set. My one and only complaint about this set is its presentation and packaging, it is the one thing that keeps this from a four star rating. My main gripe is that the discs tend to want to fall out of the book unless the book itself is left flat on its side. Indeed , I have had to purchase ANOTHER copy of this very expensive boxed set because the first and third discs fell out of the box and were lost forever in a nightclub when I was playing a few songs from the set. Sure, it was ultimately my own fault, I should have had each disc in a seperate slip case, but I wanted to show some people the book. Which brings me to my other complaint on the book. It has absolutely nothing interesting in the way of liner notes, other than the odd quips and rambling anecdotes from ( who else ) Boy George, a few words from the band members ( and by a few I mean literally less than a dozen)and production credits on the songs ( using hard to follow symbols, no less. ) I wanted more information on the demos, i.e. when they were recorded? are they group efforts or George's work alone? I wanted more vintage photos. There are FAR TOO MANY photos of George, and his boyfriend, and his entourage ( OK!! WE GET IT !! YOU HANG OUT WITH THE Beautiful People ) And to top it off, despite it being called very simply CULTURE CLUB, roughly half the material is Boy George's solo work. If I'd wanted a box set of his songs, I'd surely buy one. I am a fan, after all. But this is a Culture Club box set. And I do love it. I certainly paid enough for it. ( The both of them, actually .) I'd maybe have done it a little differently. The botom line is that most fans who are willing to pay for a box set already have most of these songs. There is maybe one full disc of demos that are good and one full disc of new remixes that are previously unavailable. The remainder is either readily available or is of little or no merit or interest.

This box set is absolutely fantastic. I have had everything by Culture Club, or so I thought. But even the demos on these discs could have been hits! And the remastering makes all their hits sound better than ever. I have rated this 5 stars because of the great music and sound quality. I would rate the package 3 stars, because of the lack of music notes, recording information, band history, etc. But I guess this is available elsewhere? Would have been nice to include here though!

I'm a big fan of culture club, but i found this box set a bit much to digest. after the second CD the box set looses it's luster. There is plenty of bitchy stuff in the booklet between the CDs. But none of the material give you no real insight to the box set or the music itself. In fact the first page tells you to by the book "Take it Like a Man, maybe then we'll understand the box set. well i read the book and it somewhat coincides with box set. although I'm a bit disapointed eyes of medusa was on the track list. But there are plus sides. Like all the demos tracks. Like Kissing 2 be clever. which almost sounds like Bow wow wow. There's also some stuff from thier latest album "don't mind if I do" which unfortunatly wasn't released in America and seemingly would be a just as good or even better then Colour By Numbers. In short this box set is great for the demos, but really lacks substance. It doesn't really give a full aspect of Culture Club. It's almost like a greatest hits album expaned four folds. obsessive culture club fans will find this box set heaven set. others lost after the second CD.

Okay, I'll admit it. I was a huge fan of Culture Club in the day. But for an "off-the-beaten-path" youth in the conservative American south at that time, how could I not be. What was my alternative? Journey? And Freddy Mercury's teeth were too big. The best way to disappoint my parents was to buy an album with a picture of a very mannish woman on the cover and play it over and over. Then when I found out HE could sing, well it was just a bonus. Sadly, as I slalom headfirst into middle age, this compilation is a good thing to have in my bright red roadster.

These songs take me right back to staying out past curfew, my first drunken adventures, and even some fun college remembrances, i'm still not ready to claim. The good news is that, even as dj's and producers have come into their own mixing some of our favorites of today, they have not forgotten to put their special touches to some of our old favorites, and they are all here.

In America we haven't really been able to keep up with Boy George's solo work, but for those of us who have, this compilation helps to fill in some of the gaps. I'm sorry to see a lack of a couple of Culture Club album titles, but I bet you won't even notice until you get to the end.

And if you need me, I'll be the middle-aged guy in the bright red roadster stopped at the green light, jamming, shaking my head, and looking for my lipstick.